Renegade Part 2
by Cat 2
Summary: What if Dick had died instead of Jason-Part 2, There's a new villian in Gotham, Renegade is his name, so why does he seem so familar?
1. Chapter 1

Part 1 Anniversary

"hey Birthday Boy!" the blue blur swept from above, tossing Tim high above his head.

"Ja-Nightwing, put him down." The young woman, who looked reassuring normal in Jeans and a blue T-Shirt, despite the cold night air smiled. "Hi, you must be Mr. And Mrs. Drake. I'm Marie."

"what no mask? No codename." Jack Drake stepped into the Titan's spacious lobby, shaking his head.

"Well, technically I'm Nighttnurse, but the only person who ever calls me that is Batman." She had a warm friendly smile and could only be in her early twenties. "and even then only when he wants to annoy me." She shrugged. "I didn't choose the spandex life."

"Nope." Nightwing had swung back down, depositing Tim next to his parents. "she married into it."

"there's still two months till the Wedding, plenty of time for me to change my mind Mister." Marie shot at the young man who was still hanging upside down. Smiling she turned to Tim. "Robin, the others are just finishing up a training session. Why don't you go and say hi?"

It was clearly a ploy to give her and Nightwing a few minutes to talk to his parents, and Tim's rolled eyes, informed them that he knew that. But he headed up the stairs with no protests.

Marie turned back to face them, and Nightwing landed beside her. Dana took the opportunity to have a good look at this strange young man.

Like Marie, he seemed to be in his early twenties, but it was hard to tell as his eyes were hidden behind a black mask. His costume was black and blue, and the thought made her want to laugh. For Jack's sake, however, she stopped herself.

"Mr. Drake." Marie was speaking, her face and voice earnest. "I would just like to say how grateful we all are to you for coming. We know you don't approve of Tim's...decision."

"make it sound like a bloody career choice." Jack muttered. Marie had started up stairs. At Jack's words, she turned to face him. "Isn't it?" she asked calmly.

****

Dana had to admit, if they hadn't been in costume, and she hadn't already know, she would have had a hard time identifying these kids as Superheroes. It was just like every other teenage party, like the one they'd tried to host for Tim a couple of weeks ago, right down to attempts to spike Fruit punch been thwarted by the "parents", which here appeared to consist of Nightwing, Marie, a young woman in a wheelchair introduced as "Babs" and a man a couple of years older than Nightwing, who was introduced as "Arsenal", but everyone else seemed to call "Speedy" or "Arrow breath", who had brought a little girl with him.

She followed Marie as she removed the latest bowl of punch, something about "speedsters."

"Boys will be Boys, I suppose." She said, standing uncomfortably against the work top, while Marie measured out portions of the juices.

"Yeah." Marie nodded. "Even with super speed."

"is there anything...?" Dana began, but Marie was shaking her head.

"honestly, today is just about giving the kids a chance to have some fun, and an attempt to convince your husband that we're not all like Batman."

"No?"

"No!" Nightwing had entered the kitchen, bearing another bowl. At the expression on his fiancée's face, he said, "Superboy, not Bart this time."

Marie snorted. "Kryptonians can't get drunk, can they?"

Nightwing shrugged. "ask big blue later."

"Later?" Dana felt embarrassed at interrupting their banter, especially as both looked slightly sheepish.

"Yeah." Nightwing handed the bowl to Marie, who exited with a slightly nervous glance back at them.

"The JLA is coming around 'bout an hour before patrol. To pick up and that stuff."

"Including...?," Dana asked, trying her best not to sound nervous.

"Including Batman." Nightwing confirmed, grabbing another bag of chips. He looked at Dana's expression for a moment.

"Robin's his partner. Contrary to popular belief, he does have a heart. You can't expect him to stay away."

No, Dana agreed, as she followed the blue back out, but I can expected to have some sense.

*****

"Hey." Oracle desperately tried to hide her tears as she heard the balcony door open.

It was silly and selfish. Jason and Marie had had so much bad luck in their lives, who was she to begrudge them the happiness they'd found with each? But still... the sight of Jay and Marie, spread out on the couch, taking a few seconds advantage of the league's arrival.

It had choked her up.

"You do know the purpose of this party is to convince Jack Drake that we're not all like the Bat?"

Roy was standing only a few feet behind her. There was no way he couldn't tell she was crying.

"yeah." She said, incredibly proud of herself for keeping her voice steady.

"That's kinda hard if you're brooding on the balcony." Roy was standing next to her now, gazing across the city. There was a pause, before he added. "it's O.K. to miss him you know."

She blinked at him.

"I do, sometimes, especially when Jason's in that get up."

"stupid." She muttered darkly.

Roy shrugged. "Dick was pretty special. And there's been no closure."

"Bruce caught the Joker." He fought the desire to smile at the Bat clan's, any members desire to defend their patriarch.

"At least two hundreds times," he shook himself unable to go down this route again.

The Joker had killed his best friend, Barbra's lover, Bruce's son, Jason's, and Tim's he supposed, brother. Beaten him to death with a crowbar and lord only knew what else. Alfred had hid the autopsy report.

And Bruce had sent the man back to Arkham, despite knowing it was at best a temporary solution. But that ranked along with a man called Felipe Gazonas as things you did not discuss with the Batclan, if you were fond of having all your teeth.

Babs was staring out across the city.

"You remember me mentioning Stan at the library?"  
Roy paused and nodded. "the one who keeps asking you out?"

Her eyes remained fixed on something only she can see.

"I'm considering saying yes."

It feels like she's asking for his permission, but she's no need to. He's no right to tell her what to do, O.K., there was that one night, a couple of weeks after Dick's death... but they both agreed it was a mistake and never to speak of it.

"I think you should." He said, slowly and carefully. "it's being what four years?"

"Five." She corrects him. "Six in October."

At his face, she shrugs. "Jason was fourteen. He's now nineteen." She continued to gaze out over the city. "Guess I'd better ask Marie for advice in dealing with Bruce hating you."

Roy laughed. Marie ticked most of the boxes in Bruce's dislike.

She was the daughter of one Mafia Don, and goddaughter to another. While her father had been killed in a Federal Prison for his crimes, her godfather remained untouchable and a sore point between her and the Bat.

On top of that, her father, lacking a son had trained Marie to take over his empire. Marie had a shot that most Marine's would have envied, and no objections to carrying a gun. She was also not convinced of the sanity of human life, arguing that some crimes placed their perpetrators "Beyond the pale."

Bruce was convinced she was using Jason.

Barbara sometimes wondered if he'd thought the same thing about her and Dick.

"he'll understand."

A small snort, informed them that their conversation had been over heard. Cass stood, her arms crossed watching them.

"We cut cake. Marie says fetch you" Was her only response. Roy stood to one side, to let Babs wheel herself in.

*****

Bruce sat watching his family.

Tim sat at the head of the table, surrounded by his team. The Little JLA, not so little now, he supposed, were all talking at once, while they stuffed the cake Marie had baked earlier. Stephanie or Spoiler as her codename stated, had her arms draped around him, which was making Kon very uncomfortable.

Nightwing stood, his arm around Marie, smiling softly. While he hated to admit it, Marie had been good for his fiery son. She acted like a balm on his troubled son, same as the Titans had. He was proud of him. Leader of the Titans at 16, flying solo at 15. He laughed softly to himself. He should have known that Jason was born to fly alone.

Batgirl was standing beside Oracle and the rest of the Birds of Prey. She was smiling. Oracle wasn't, not properly. She was smiling, but her eyes were red, as though she'd been crying. He supposed that events like this, with their hints of what might have been had to be tough for her.

He blinked and forced himself to focus, as Jason was talking.

"It's moments like this that define us. Not the swinging through the air, not the beating up bad guys-though it is fun." The others laughed softly. Bruce frowned.

"No. What really defines us is moments like this. With friends and family."

He paused, his eyes running over to Bruce and to Marie.

"some of you will know, but before the recent troubles, there was some really bad shi..." He caught Alfred's eyes and amended. "stuff happening in my life. A guy, who blamed me for his mother dieing, decided to target to me."

Bruce remembered that. The Guy, his name was Roland Desmond, had been a minor level villain in Blüdhaven, until an illness had forced him to be treated with experimental steroids. After an incident involving the Original Nightwing, he had become obsessed with the removal of the vigilante, not realising that Jason had taken up his brother's mantel. He had blow up huge sections of crime alley, including the garage where Jason worked.

In his mind's eye he could still see the hall, from the footage Oracle have sent him. His middle, well eldest technically, son standing there, while Blockbuster ranted at him. Claiming that he could keep this up forever, that every loved one, every stranger, would suffer and die.

Could see Jason, standing there listening, his face unreadable. Then as Blockbuster paused, calmly lighting a cigarette.

"Let's think about this, shall we?" Jason's voice had been pure ice. "My family starts with Batman. My Friends start with Superman, you want to explain to me how that works out for you?"

And before the villain had had a chance to draw breath, he had continued. "And I have the fucking JLA on speed dial_" He hadn't had a chance to say more, as a Red and Blue figure emerged behind him, standing next to him was an Archer dressed in Red an arrow notched to his bow, a green skinned Martian, A woman in Red and gold and various other figures who he couldn't see clearly. The look on Blockbuster's face had been priceless.

His only regret was that he hadn't been there. That Jason had never told him about what was happening until it was nearly too late. That it had been the JLA who helped out his son, who arrested Blockbuster, Not him.

Jason was still speaking.

"I don't want to think about what would have happened if they hadn't been there. And I know I don't have to. That rule Number one in this game is that we stick together."

"Rule number two is that we kick the crap out of anyone who threatens our own." Arsenal added, earning himself a disapproving look from Alfred, and rolled eyes from Marie who asked if anyone wanted seconds.

******

Surprisingly it was Superman who was the first to leave, muttering about a typhoon in Thailand.

Then it was Flash, who was on monitor duty. Slowly one by one everyone made their excuses and left.

Batman offered Robin the night off, who took it. Barbara offered to help Marie clear up, but she argued that she could do this here and catch the subway home, or go home and spend the next four to five hours worrying about them.

Barbara couldn't help smiling at that, knowing it only too well as a cop's daughter.

She paused, by her car. It was nothing definite, nothing certain, but she could have sworn they were being watched...

*******

They were leaving.

He watched as Bruce emerged, the Batmobile at hand. Watched him offer Jason a lift, and the young man in his costume shake his head and indicate the bike.

He was surprised that Jason, that the second Robin, His Replacement, had taken that name. They'd never been close, indeed most of his memories of the kid involved them trying to beat the snot out of each other.

Nightwing had meant something that he was his own man, nobody's sidekick. But it had been his for a year if that . It hadn't been as important was Robin.

Robin. The name his mother had called him, the Name he had given to Bruce, The Name Bruce had given away.

He blinked. Emerging from the lobby were three figures. Two adults in civilians' clothes and...

The costume had changed. The short pants that had caused so many jokes over the years were gone, to be replaced with long leggings. Robin Colours. Green leggings. The cape was black on the outside now, though the yellow was still present in the lining. The ridiculous pixie boots were gone, not that he was sorry about that!

His breathing quickened, and his hand gripped tighter.

NO! He breathed deeply, stopping himself. There would be time for that soon enough. Time to make them Pay.

He watched Babs get into her car, noting the number plate.

He'd be paying her a visit soon. Her and the rest of the clan that had forgotten and forsaken him.

Slowly, he melted into the night.

TBC


	2. Should Auld Acquaintances Be Forgot

Part 2 should Auld Acquaintances be forgot.

Marie groaned and cursed in Italian, as the sun came though the blinds. Next to her Jason stirred, but did not wake up, as she pulled herself out of bed and dressed. She was glad. It had been four in the morning before he returned last night, and while he hadn't mentioned anything specific, she knew from his body that it had not been an easy night.

Ever since the gang wars, when Black Mask have taken control of the city's underworld, things had got harder. On their own, both Black Mask and Penguin were formidable opponents. Together they were pushing Gotham to its limits. While they had gained allies, Catwoman and Spoiler, Jason, and Marie if she was honest, knew these alliances were temporary at best.

She sighed. There was nothing she could do, except keep her ear to the ground and patch them up after it.

Carefully she grabbed her books from the table. Her professors at Gotham University were amazed at how quickly she managed to get ahead in class and the amount of reading she did. She didn't think that explaining to them that it was a way to stop herself going mad during the long nights.

"Hey." She must have made some noise because Jason was standing in the door way, hair still muffled from the bed.

Her heart contracted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." They both knew that was a lie. "about Yesterday." She lifted her eyes to meet his. "Thank you."  
Marie flushed, "I didn't do nothing. Alfred did all the cooking, and kept Bruce there."

"you know what I mean."

And she did. For her and Bruce to manage to be in the same room together for more than twenty minutes, without either of them making a sarcastic comment, was an effort in will.

Jason stepped over, taking her head in one hand. She leant eagerly into the kiss, as a horn sounded from the Street below.

"Jack has impeccable timing." She muttered breaking apart. Jason snorted.

"see you at Maz's for lunch." She nodded, grabbing her bag off the chair and running down the stairs.

*****

"So how did your date with Stan go?" Dinah asked, as she attempted to attack Oracle. Babs rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't a date." She said, wishing that she'd had the courage last night to tell Roy she'd already said yes. Then at least he might have tried to talk her out of it. At Dinah's snort, she amended, "and if it had been, it would have had to go down as the worst first date in history."

"why? What did he do?"

Oracle sighed. "Nothing. He really tried to be sweet. You know that old poster I've got in my office for Haley's circus?"  
"The one Dick gave you?"

Oracle nodded. "he saw that and thought I might like to go. So he booked tickets, picked me up and drove us about 3 hours to where they were based."

Dinah nodded, sinking down beside the chair, the attack forgotten.

"It was the elephants. They were leading them by as we arrived, and that…and the smell of sawdust…it all came flooding back to me, and I started crying there and then." There were tears on her cheeks now, but she quickly pushed them away. "Stan had to take me home, I was in no fit state for a date. And what made it worse was that he was so sweet. Do you know what he said when he dropped me off? After I'd sobbed all the way home and ruined the magical evening he'd planned? "It's O.K. I can see you're not over this guy yet. Just remember I'll be there when you are.""

"oh Babs." Dinah said, hugging her, while she tried to dry her tears.

"It's stupid. Dick and I weren't even together when he died, he was with Kory."

"and first chance she got after the funeral, she took off into Space." Dinah said, calmly. "Bats mess people up, when they get under your skin, trust me."

Babs laughed slightly through the tears as Dinah and Bruce's one "Date" was not something anyone talked about.

"you take your time honey. One day You'll be ready."

"and if I'm not?"

Dinah shrugged, picking up her weapon and resuming the attack. "You'll still us."

*****

Maz's was a cheap restaurant, about half way between the campus and garage.

Who Maz was, no one had any idea, as the owner was called Becky. She was one of Jack's numerous exs, pregnant with her first child and had no objections to Jason turning up either covered in oil, or in an Armani suit, treating both with the same rolled eyes.

For once, Jason was early to Maz's and grabbed a table and a paper. He had just finished the sports, and was about to start on the serious news when a shadow fell across the table.

"Jason." The voice was metropolis, but the hints of summers in the Sicilian Mountains were strong.

"What do you want James?" he growled at him.

James Beterelli always looked impeccable. He had been Marie's father's second in command, his Consigliere personale, a role he still held in Metropolis. He remained convinced that Marie's and Jason's relationship was merely a fling, and that she would return to take her rightful place eventually, if they just were patient.

Jason sometimes wondered if what kept them together was a desire to prove people wrong.

"A word with the Bella Maria."

Jason snorted. "Thought you'd already had your meeting for this year."

He got a small stab of pleasure out of seeing the immovable face flinch.

"Circumstances have changed."

"Not here." Marie joined them, kissing Jason, and sitting next to him grasping his hand. "I gave you my answer, James. I know how much I owe my godfather, and I will keep the Omertà, but I will not be his heir."

"He merely asks for appearances."

"The answer remains the same." The eyes that bored into the consigilere were as hard as flint. "If that is all, then we have nothing more to discuss. I believe you can make the noon train to Metropolis if you hurry."

James sighed. "I came with a proposition."

"There's nothing you can offer us." Jason snarled softly.

"Really?" James had leaned slightly back, smiling at the pair. "Not even information about a new player in the game."

*****

"He's calling himself "Renegade"" Jason said, dodging a kick at his head. "Apart from that, No one seems to know anything about him."

"Including Oracle?" Bruce asked, flipping Jason. As he landed, Jason nodded.

"Including Oracle, not that's any fault of hers. The Guy doesn't seem to have existed till a couple of months ago."  
Bruce frowned and Jason fought the desire to roll his eyes. He knew people didn't just appear, but he's shaken down all his contacts, and Oracles, and with James Beterelli's added to list, he thinks it's fair to say that this guy is doing a pretty good job of appearing that way.

"She's virtually nothing to go on." Marie had come with him that evening, officially cos she needed to gets some medical supplies from Alfred. While that was true, she also wanted to be there, when the deal was explained to Bruce. They both knew he wouldn't like it. "No one has seen the guy's face; we've even just going on the assumption that it is a guy. He's been wearing a" she gestured with her hands, "Helmet like a jar. All in red. Costume is Black with a red V shape on back and chest. Or at least that's what Beterelli associate said."

Bruce moved off the mats, pulling the cowl on over his face.

"And what did Beterelli want in exchange for this information?" Marie and Jason exchanged a look. Well here went nothing.

"Me." Marie said softly, but her voice seeming to echo in the cave. "Or my company more accurately. First week of June. "  
Bruce isn't stupid. "The Don's gathering."

Marie shrugged. "All Uncle Tony wants is for me to turn up and sit there, while they talk business like I'm not even there. It seems a small price to pay for some information about this SOB."

At Bruce's expression and Alfred's eyebrow, she explained. "According to Samson, Beterilli's associate this guy calls together the eight biggest dealers in town. Offers them a deal, claiming he can protect them from the Mask and Batman." That had annoyed him, and she felt a small piece of pleasure. "One of them asked why they should listen said that he was crazy. Renegade opened a duffle bag containing the heads of their lieutenants. He claimed it took him just two hours to gather them." She picked up the bag Alfred had silently filled. "Samson's lieutenant's name was Vinnie. He used to work for my father. He was good. A Scumbag, but good. His wife is having to arrange a close casket funeral. Forgive if I think we've had more than enough of those."

Her eyes rested on the case with its costume in there for a moment before she headed back up the stairs, side stepping to avoid Tim, who was on his way down.

"What's that all about?" he asked, getting a firm "Nothing." From his mentors. Rolling his eyes (Bruce made a note that Tim was evidently spending too much time with Jason) he asked. "What's up tonight?"

"Something Big." Bruce said, heading out into the night.

******

"Something Big." Turned out to be an understatement. Jason personally would have classified Amazo as huge. Plus an exploding boat that soaked them all to the skin.

It started simply enough. They arrived at the docks and took out Black Mask's (he assumed it was Black Mask's) goons.

It was then things got fun.

The crates, that these goons were working so hard to protect, contained Boomerangs from captain Boomerang, Bombs from the Joker, Penguin's umbrellas, and a ton of stuff like that. O.K. it was lethal, but nothing that they hadn't encountered before.

He'd been joking about Bruce having to build a new trophy case, when Tm had opened the lid of the second one.

"Aww Hell."  
He'd turned to remind Tim that "well brought up young gentlemen do not swear.", when he saw what was in crate number two.

A bomb. And not just any bomb. Too complicated to diffuse quickly, non conventional explosives. He barely heard Bruce's "MOVE!" before he was grabbing Tim and tumbling back, hitting the floor.

The boat went up like the fourth of July, flaming debris falling all around them.

"You O.K?" He heard Bruce ask, over the ringing in his ears.

"Fine_"

"There!" Tim yelled suddenly. "On the roof."

Both looked up and saw a figure silhouetted against the Gotham Skyline.

"You recognize him?" he asked, shooting a grab line off.

"No. and at the moment I don't care." Was Bruce's reply. Tim was trying to keep up with them; Jason guessed he'd been winded in the fall. For all that, his lighter mass meant that he arrived on the roof at the same moment as Jason. Just in time to see Renegade (it had to be. Chances of two costumed lunatics running around this town at the same time? Fairly slim) jump off. He landed on the metal cage on the roof next door, and used it for propulsion. Jason watched as he flip over, once, twice, three…No. He and Tim exchanged a look, as Bruce set off a line at him.

There was no hesitation. A curved dagger cut through the line before it had a chance to go taut. This was no rank amateur; this was someone who knew exactly what they were doing. Or got lucky, he thought, as the guy crashed through a skylight.

It was as he landed that he realized that it hadn't been luck. It had been design.

It's big. Bigger than Bruce who's over six foot.

It's got muscles like Clark's and an angry red look in its eyes.

"Stay sharp." Bruce warned.

"You are easily outmatched. I will end this quickly."

"Wanna bet?" Jason asked jumping up. Three small charges arranged Ugly's nose and mouth.

As he'd suspected, Ugly just brushed them away.  
"You'll have to do better than that." He jeered. Jason smiled.

"I did."

O.k. Bruce had a point, the thigh would have done just as well, but the bit of him that had loved been Robin, couldn't resist sticking the exploding Batarang in Ugly's backside. And it made Tim laugh.

"It's Amazo. Highly advanced android that processes the powers and abilities of seven members of the Justice League. It won't stop him." Tim warned as they ran. Jason agreed.

"No, but it'll slow him down a bit."

"It's an older model." Jason wasn't sure if Bruce was talking to them, or to himself. "Or maybe a prototype. There's no sign of Plastic Man. And it's been stripped down. No green Lantern ring or Golden Lasso. We got lucky."  
"Yeah." Jason muttered in agreement, as Amazo jumped grabbing him in a hold that felt like steel bars were trying to constrict his chest. "I'll be sure to buy a lottery ticket."

Fortunately, Ugly had left his hands free; through it would be a struggle to use them, if his grip didn't let up.

"You are merely a human being. Flesh and Bone. Your struggle is pointless."

"And your boss needs a new script writer!" Jason yelled in response.

"Nightwing. Professor Ivo created with a human model in mind."

"Well Bully for Professor Ivo!" Jason yelled. He was sure Bruce was leading up to something, but he was going to have to make it quick. He wasn't sure how long he could stay conscious for.

"His functionality mimics that of a human being. His weaknesses are located at the same points."

"Got ya." Jason grinned. "Hold still you big lummox." He continued, making good use of pressure points of the neck. It didn't knock out Amazo, that would have been asking too much, but it did make him lessen his grip slightly. And that meant that Jason could reach his utility belt.

"This might sting a little." He muttered, driving two batrangs into the android's ears.

Amazo let go of Jason, who managed to maneuver himself on to a fire escape, while the creature fell down, down, landing with a deafening thump on the sidewalk below.

There was moment, while all three stood still, catching their breath and waiting.

"What did you do?" Tim asked, after a moment.

"Nailed his brain pan." Jason said, still gasping slightly. His ribs hurt, but they were only bruised. Guess he'd be wearing a shirt in the garage for a couple of days. "And don't give me that Look, Bruce. He wasn't alive."

"We could have taken him down some other way. The Bat mobile is on its way_"

"And by the time it got here, I'd have broken ribs and probably a punched lung and it would have moved on to you and Tim." He shook his head. "Sorry, partner. Not happening."

"The Bat mobile can help us have a look around," Tim volunteered, nervously. His expression told Jason that he thought he'd made a bad call, but screw it! Jason had intention of ever putting Alfred through losing another soldier, not if he had any say in the matter. "Be nice to know who ordered creepy."

"Two candidates." Jason said, jumping down to land beside them. "Black Mask or this guy Renegade."

"Or a new player." Tim suggested, taking out a handheld scanner. "Someone who wants to expand or make a splash. James Beterilli could have told you about Renegade to keep us off his scent."

Jason shook his head, as they reentered the warehouse.

"James Beterilli is a consigilere. Loosely translated, that means he's got no ambition. He wants Marie back in the family, but he's smart enough to figure out that attack us ain't going to do that. Now if it was kryptonite_"

"It was."

Jason blinked, glancing at Bruce. "Excuse me?"

"There's been at least 100 pounds worth of Kryptonite sitting here."

"o.k." Jason muttered. "Maybe Beterilli did know more than he was telling us."

*****

"Hello. Do you prefer I call Black Mask…Mr. Black Mask, Blackie?" the voice was heavily disguised, but that shouldn't create a problem, Oracle thought as her fingers sped across the keys. The bug in Black Mask's lieutenant's phone had gone off a few seconds ago, and she was sending the triangulated location to Bruce.

Canary was on a date with Green Arrow, and no way was she disturbing that, Cass was in Blüdhaven, chasing up a lead there, Steph's little girl had the flu, and Huntress had vanished off the radar, again.

The Bats would just have to handle this.

"Just talk. I'm listening. But when I say "I'm listening" I'm also thinking about killing you."

"Not a great way to start off a relationship." Babs muttered, and it seemed the guy on the other end agreed with her. She listened to them arguing, relegating it to background noise, as her fingers flew over the keys. The guy, Jason told her his name was probably renegade demanding fifty million. Wire transfer. Black mask offering forty in cash and ten in transfer.

"I'm sure I can get buyers to meet my price." There! She's cracked it and they can finally hear what this guy sounds like. Muffled, but the hood was mentioned.

"I'm sure there are hippos that can paint houses, but I ain't seen one."

There's silence. "Deal. I'll call in an hour with a location."

"And in less than that," Oracle muttered. "You'll be in jail and that Kryptonite will be in Bruce's cave with the rest of it."

The idiot hadn't turned his phone off. As another voice joined Black Mask's she froze.

"Oracle to Batman." She said softly. "It seems it might be getting chilly in Gotham early this year."

*****

"It's actually six inches of the Gotham Guardian."

"Say what you like about Black Mask." Jason mutters on Tim's right. "He does always buy local."

Tim nodded, not bothering to chuckle.

"What's wrong baby bird?" Jason asks, turning to face him. Tim shifts.

"Back there. Renegade. He did a quadruple_"

He fell silent. Jason's eyes were like chips of ice, boring into him.

"He didn't do anything we haven't seen before." He said, softly, but with a silent force behind it. Tim had once overheard Marie telling Oracle that Jason would have made an excellent underboss (or was it he was an excellent Underboss?), and at points like this, he could see why. It was almost (but not quite) as terrifying as running up against the Joker alone. "Or done." Jason finishes softly, as the shooting starts.

Bruce, as ever takes the lead. But Tim has to admit he's impressed. Renegade is no amateur. He attempts to take Mr Freeze's helmet. Unfortunately the glass is reinforced, and to quote the villain

"You actually succeeded in making me angry."

Fortunately Bruce gets control of Mr. Freeze's gun before he can turn Renegade into a Popsicle.

While Bruce deals with him, Jason and Tim go after Renegade.

"Nice to see you again." Jason jokes. "We'll be taking the kryptonite off your hands."

Renegade leapt up, taking both of them down with a kick that Tim was sure he recognised. "You can have it. I got what I came for."

"And what's that?" Tim asks, as Jason and he fall into the correct attack stance.

"The lay of the land." At the push of a button, the lids of all the crates in the warehouse popped open. Cameras, all with machine guns attached to them started shooting. Tim hit the deck, with Jason only a few seconds behind him. Bruce was also diving for cover, in fact the only people who weren't were the man who set it off (who was fleeing) and Mr. Freeze, who uttered an unconcerned, "Good seeing you all again." And vanished up a huge ice tower.

"Slick!" Jason observed, managing to drag out every syllable in that word.

"Mr. Freeze has more fire power than before." Bruce responded, sounding unimpressed.

"Renegade has spilt as well." Tim volunteered. "He's good."

"Yes." Bruce echoed, in a strange voice. "He's very good."

*****

"Jason?" Marie's voice came as she wandered sleepily from the bedroom.

"Hey." He turned slightly, wincing at the pain in his bandaged ribs. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." she stood for a moment hands on her hips, surveying him. "What's the damage?"  
Jason shrugged. "Some bruised ribs. Nothing a little rest won't fix."

"Then why are you out here?" Marie asked, wrapping her arms around his neck, careful not to touch the bruises and regarding the screen.

"I was serious about the rest."

Marie kissed him softly. "I was too."

He let himself be led by her into their bedroom, and it's only later, much later, that he wondered if she saw the page he was looking at before she did that.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3 Dead Arise

Chapter 3 Dead arise.

"Good morning."

It was always bad sign when A. Marie was still around when he was properly awake and B. she said good morning.

"Morning." He mutters, trying to buy some time by grabbing some cereal and sitting opposite her. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Cancelled." Marie's voice doesn't offer him any clue as to what the problem is. "Seems the lecturer's computer suffered a meltdown."

Oracle is a traitor. Her eyes bore into him.

"When were you planning on telling me?"

"Telling you what?"

"That you think you know who Renegade is."

This is not a conversation he needs to be having. Not in their flat, which he is about 99.9% sure Bruce has bugged, Not this early in the morning and not with Marie.

"Not here." He hisses, and she responds with a raised eyebrow. "Bruce is absent and Oracle is occupied with the Titans."

He must remember that technically Marie is co-leader.

"He's been hitting deliveries every night for two weeks. When were planning to tell me that the guy you, Bruce and everyone else is running around ragged after is your brother?"

"Tim's been with me," he begins, desperate to avoid saying it out loud, cos that'll make it true. She waves this aside with one hand. "Your older Brother. Dick Grayson."

It's out and there's nothing he can do about it. He gets to his feet and starts pacing. "Dick's dead." He says, very firmly. "There was an autopsy, Alfred showed you the report when Spoiler wanted to join us, don't deny it." She doesn't. "Dead people don't come back."

"Clark did." Marie points out, softly. "Ollie did. Lots of people have."

"Not bats." Jason mutters. "We don't get second chances."

"Says who?" Marie asks. She sighs and asks. "Who else knows?"

Jason snorts. "Me. Tim suspects, ever since he saw Renegade do the Quadruple summersault." Marie nods.

"I saw you looking it up online. That was Dick's signature move wasn't it?"

He nods. "The only one none of us, not even Bruce managed to copy." He sighs, running his fingers through his hair. "Bruce is thinking it too, only he'll never admit it."

"Don't be so sure." Marie says. "He's been talking to the League. Zatanna, Jason Blood. Roy said he was in Star City yesterday, and when I ask Alfred where he'd gone, he said Metropolis."

She sighs. "So the question is no longer who is Renegade. The question is what are we going to do about him?"

"We?" Jason asks nervously. Marie leans in and kisses him. "The wedding may be two months away, but I think I've been a bat long before that."

********

Stephanie adjusted her position, so that she could get a better look at the figures below. Oracle, sounding really weird, had instructed them to find out _anything _they could on Renegade. A contact led her here, where she's looking down on some drug dealers. Thugs, but still.

They were discussing making a deal with Renegade. Seemed that blonde guy had lost five runners working near a high school. She couldn't bring herself to be sorry.

"Selling to kids." She muttered, paraphrasing Marie. "Beyond the pale."

"Glad you agree." She spun around.

Standing there was what Oracle had described them as being on the lookout for. A man in black and red, his face completely hidden behind a red hood.

"Hi. I thought I felt my ears burning."

*********

"Now take the place apart."  
The city was lighter than Gotham, but it was reassuring to know the thugs were just as stupid. More perhaps. By his calculations he had approximately 3.2 minutes until Superman shows up.

More than enough time.

A kick takes care of blond young man, while a well placed bat lead and elbow deal with the other.

The third member is pointing a gun at his head when Clark arrives.

"I had him." He growls.

"I _never _had a doubt." Clark is looking at him. He was holding the third and fourth members of the gang. "You come to metropolis and have to stop a burglary? You should have called ahead; I would've gotten you theatre tickets."

"I came to talk."

"Really? Because I was serious about the theater ticket." Clark's eyes were teasing and the desire to tell him everything was almost overwhelming. But he stopped himself.

"I really need to talk." Clark frowned. Then nodded.

"Okay. Let's talk."

******

"And that last piece of garbage is Teddy Reese, started as a pimp and then moved on to a kiddie porn ring before he fell in love with narcotics." She knew this of course, Teddy Reese was one of those criminals who created interesting discussions between Babs and Marie, and the rest were all Gotham home grown. Still she was impressed at how quickly he must have picked this all up.

"You seem pretty well dialled in." she muttered, setting off the alert to let the others know where she was.

"I'd say it was because I keep my ear to the ground, but these goons make more noise than a rhino at the ballet. All you have to do is pay attention."

He turned to her, giving her a look not unlike the one Jason gave her, when she said she wanted to be Robin.

"So…you wanna take these guys down?"

"What?"

"I'm going down to kick nine kinds of hell of this trash can of garbage. You can watch or join me."  
He dropped a smoke canister as he was speaking and as he jumped, yelling a challenging "it's up to you," over his shoulder, she forgot all of Oracle's warnings.

"Why the hell not?"

********

"Was I not being clear?"

"No you are…" Clark stood, like one of Gotham gargoyles watching him. He wasn't sure why, he couldn't stop pacing. His talks with Zatanna, with Jason Blood, with Green Arrow hadn't reassured him, if anything they'd made him feel worse, which was why he was here, talking to Clark.

"I'm just not sure what you're asking."  
He sighed, and repeated himself. "I need to know about when you died."

Clark was evidently confused. "Bruce…you know as well as anyone that after I fought Doomsday I wasn't exactly dead. I was in a state that mirrored death."

"We actually don't know that. It's just what we told ourselves to make sense of it all." He was speaking quickly, angrily. All the stress, all the worry of the last two days rushing out of him. "It was easier to fall back on that than admit the harder truth."

"Being what?" Clark was reaching for him, but he avoids his touch.

"That it has nothing to do with science-or logic- you were dead. And you came back to life."

Clark's arms were folded, and he was looking at him strangely. "I don't agree. But even still we've seen it before. Metamorpho, Green Arrow, Hal Jordan, it's not science_"  
"it has been for me." This had to show how bad the last few days had been. That he was giving in to his emotions. "I've always had answer. The fact. For every one of them we lost, whether they thought it was about heaven or god or even magic-

"Magic, mysticism is just another realm's science. I know that, but…now…" he fell silent. What he was thinking was too great to trust even Clark with it.

"Bruce." The voice was soft and kind, and he was grateful for that. Even more grateful for Clark keeping his distance. If he touched him, he'd go to pieces. "What's this about?"

"I don't know. Exactly."

******

"I thought you said you took out the dudes covering the door." Steph yelled as about twenty more broke in.

"Evidently I was wrong." Renegade was pissed, and she was feeling very uncomfortable. "Keep airborne. Head for the door."

"I'm gone."

Her feet sent the flimsy plywood door flying.

"Right behind you!" she could hear renegade yell.

"Live to fight another day huh?" she asked, as she collapsed on the street, remembering all of Jason's lectures on the subject.

"Oh, I think we'll just do fine today."

The machine gun appeared from nowhere. She tried, but at 100 rounds a minute she was doomed. And the next thing she knew there was a dagger in her shoulder.

"You...son of a…son of a…" her thoughts were for Carie. Oracle would do her best, but would they let her keep Carrie?

"I'm no one's son." Renegade hissed at her. "Join me."

"No." the voice was soft and came from behind her. "This ends now."

Batman? He wasn't a part of this. That was her last thought, before she passed out.

****

He was as quiet as ever. When he'd been a kid, he could never stand it. That was why he'd talked all the time. Something his successors had kept up. You'd think Bruce would get the hint.

Exploding the trashcan at him was simply for kicks. He was correct about that. This would end now.

A taser from Kord industries dealt with the bat gun. The rest was a question of pinning the cloak. Restricting the movements. He knew Bruce. He knew his style, his strengths and his weaknesses.

"This is over." Bruce muttered pinning him.

"No. Not nearly." He had torn the cowl off. Exposing Bruce to the rain.

"I guess," he continued. "We should keep this even."

The shock in his eyes was even better than Jason's had been outside the café.

"Oh. God."

"No." Dick Grayson stood, gazing at his former mentor. "Wanna guess again."

"You cannot possible imagine…I refuse to believe this ruse."

"But you do." He kept his voice sing song. "Why else did you go to Metropolis? To Star City."

"It's not possible."

"No it really is."  
"Dick." The voice was firm. He smiled

"Yes."

"How did this happen?"

That's a can of worms he doesn't want to open yet.

"That doesn't really matter much does it? Not to me." He spotted the batarang where it had fallen. "Here. That's fingerprints. And here's blood and even some tissue." He drew the batarang across the back of his head.

"Check it. You'll find it's me."

"I won't believe." He found the detonator.

"Yes you will. You're a creature of science Bruce."

"Why are you doing this?"  
He smiled, mischievously.

"You'll find out."

The explosion provided good cover for his escape.

****

The shoulder wound wasn't as bad as it looked.

He carried Steph to Bat mobile and set the autopilot for Oracle. He had no idea how he was going to explain this to her.

Dinah meets him at the door, and promptly takes Steph from him.  
"They're upstairs." She says, and is gone before his brain can even formulate the word who?

It's everyone. Oracle at her computer with red eyes. Jason's arm around Marie, even through neither is a massive fan of physical affection in public. Tim balanced nervously on a sofa. Alfred hovering with a tray of drinks.

"Run these." He tells Oracle holding out the batarang.

The others stand silent waiting and ultimately, it's more than he can bear.

"Renegade is…"

"Dick Grayson." Jason finishes the sentence for him. "He turned up at Maz's. I saw him as he was leaving. Oracle ran the voice print we got from the Black Mask through her database."

Marie's hand finds Jason and she squeezes it while he says it, her eyes never leaving his face.

"What…" Tim swallows and licks his lips, before finishing the question. "What are we going to do?"

All eyes are on him. They need an answer.

"This changes nothing." He said softly. "We bring in Renegade."

And help him if we can is what he wants to say, but can't.  
TBC


	4. Chapter 4 Robins Crash

Chapter 4

"What are you still doing here?" Jason asked, looking up from the computer in the Batcave. "It's Sunday. Titan's night."  
Tim shrugged.

It had been nearly a week since they had discovered that Renegade was Dick Grayson, the first boy wonder, and things had moved fast. His parents had been "Persuaded" to take a holiday to Europe. There was definitely traces of Marie and Oracle in their sudden departure.

Jason had been coming to the cave more, meeting them there before patrol and coming back for debriefing at the end of the night, as he had when Tim was first starting out. He looked grimmer, and the couple of times Tim had seen Marie, she looked on the point of collapse.

"Marie said she wasn't going, with everything that's happened, I thought…"

Jason got up and walked over, dropping into a crouch so he was virtually the same height as Tim. There was only two years between them, but Jason was tall and Tim's short, so the age gap appeared greater.

"Go to the Tower." he said, softly, and glancing around for Bruce. "You'll be safer there."

"Safer?" Tim repeated. He was the first to admit it, he was confused. Confused by his parents being sent to Bororo, Confused by Oracle sending Steph and Carrie to Metropolis, confused by everything at the minute. O.K. Renegade was killing drug dealers, thugs, ect, but so far, since the fight with Bruce, he'd left them alone. they'd seen his work, but never the man, which seemed to be making Jason, Oracle and Bruce more nervous.

Jason looked pained. "Look, Dick…didn't like me taking on the mantle. We clashed pretty badly over it, and that was before he started killing. I don't…I think you may be on his target list."

"And you figure the tower is safer?"

"Safer than here." Jason said, glancing around. "Safer than patrol. there's five people there, minimum. That's extra eyes and security that we don't have." he ran his fingers through his hair and wandered over to look at the glass case. "I always thought that losing one of us, me, you, Babs or Bruce would be what killed Alfred, now I'm thinking it might be getting one of us back. Please just…go."

and because even with Alfred's training, Jason saying Please was still a rare event, Tim agreed.

*

"I don't care. Call in every hour."

"You still haven't explained why." Gar moaned, leaning over Cyborg's shoulder. Marie sighed. "I don't have time to, It's nearly nine. If there's going to be an Arkham breakout it's going to be in the next few minutes so I need off the line." She sighed. "look we've got a minor problem in Gotham that may target Robin. So keep the system at maximum and check in regularly."

Vic nodded. "Donna just called in an issue. We'll have to go; Speedy, Kid Flash and Wonder girl have already left."

Marie's face creased. "O.K. Take Robin with you. I'll get the others to meet you there."

She sighed off, as the com buzzed into life again. "Nightwing."

Jason's voice was soft and angry as he reported. Another body, drug dealer this time.

"Least we know he's still in Gotham." She said, trying to joke. Jason shook his head. "This one's a couple of days old, it's been frozen." There was a pause. "there's no sign of him tonight."

Two weeks of hell, then vanishing off the map completely. That made no sense. Marie surveyed the large Map of Gotham displayed on the Cave's wall. "where are you Grayson?" she muttered softly.

*

Vic and Gar had always been inseparatable. But with everything that was happening recently, even if the bats were too caught up with him to pay much attention to it, everyone's breaking apart. They were arguing as he headed towards them. A quick electrical stun dealt with that.

Slipping not Raven's room and sung a sleeping gas on her took no time.

It had changed a lot since the last time he was here. They had to rebuild, he guessed. But no one had bothered to update the security protocols, and if they had, someone had left his DNA in the system. Sloppy, but then again Jason always had been.

He half wished his younger brother was there, two for the price of one on Imposters, but he's in Gotham.

Speedy, Kid Flash and Wonder girl have left. The older members, Ollie's son, Red Arrow and Supergirl didn't come tonight.

It was just him. Just him and the imposter.

"Look Kon, I'm sorry, I can't talk about." he watched as the young man in the costume leant away. "it's Bat stuff." A sigh. "I know. I'm sorry… Hey Listen to me. You are not him. You are nothing like him. What do I have to do to convince you?" a brief laugh. "think I can run to that." A sigh. "yeah it's bad. Tell you about it tomorrow, but trust me; you're not going to believe me." He hung up, putting the cell phone carefully in the gym bag.

With Marie believing the Titan's to be on a mission, it would be a while before anyone realised something was wrong.

"hey Tim." He smiled beneath the hood, as Tim spun around, the yellow unlying flying. For a second it looked like the old costume. "I was here first."

He had to hand it to the kid, he kept his cool, withdrawing the bow staff and getting into the attack position. "You're Renegade." He said, firmly. "You've been cleaning up Gotham the easy way."

"easy?" he was taking the hood off, watching the kid's face. "What do you know about easy, Tim? You had a father. A home. You went to private school right? I slept in a wagon. Never set foot inside a school." He tore through the thin undershirt, "trying to survive. To impress everyone. Until Bruce took me in." the pants were on the floor. And he stood there. In the old costume.

A brief part of Tim's mind wandered where he'd got it from.

"I trained as hard as I could. Did whatever he asked. But he fired me. Said I wasn't good enough to be Robin. But they say you are."

He leapt at him. "SHOW ME TIM! Show me what you have that I didn't!"

Tim had figured he was ready. But he had forgotten the most basic rule, the one that Jason had hammered into when they were training. Never underestimate a Robin. Or a former Robin. It was rule number two for Robins, right after "Batman is not always Right!"

The force of the attack sent him flying. Through a wall and down on to the lower levels.

"you were the kid who spent weeks tracking the dark Knight." Dick was coming down fast towards him, and he rapidly dropped two smoke bombs and went for the attack.

"Solving a mystery that no one else could." Dick blocked the first blow from the staff easily. And the second. "you discovered who he was behind the mask. Millionaire. Bruce Wayne."

"If You Let Your Opponent Chose Your Battle, You're Going To Get Your Butt Kicked." Jason's voice, paraphrasing Confucius ran through his head. He jumped, heading as quickly as he could for lower levels. He had forgotten that Dick used to be an acrobat.

"Let me tell you something kid. I know Bruce Wayne. And," He ahead of Tim, running wasn't going to help. "If someone was trying to find out whom batman really was. IF someone was trailing him for weeks, he'd know about it."

Jason had said something similar. But that was before he'd seen Tim sneaking around. Then he'd admitted the possibility.

"you can't be that good." He was able to duck the fist barely.

"I am." He yelled. Others had frequently said that he was the quietest of the Robins. Jason had called it creepy. But he knew when to speak.

"He let you find him." The kick from Dick sent him flying back, hitting one of the trees that Kara insisted on. Marie had always said they'd kill someone.

"and I bet he told you the same thing he told me didn't he? That you had the talent to make a difference in Gotham. That he needed someone he could trust in his war on crime. That you were one of a kind." Briefly Tim wandered where he got the batarang, but then remembered that they drop them all over Gotham. Jason has one from before he was Robin that he picked up. It was easy to deflect the batarang. But the attack that came towards him… he wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly he was kneeling on the floor and the bow staff was in Dick's hands.

"Now…" Dick's voice was frightening. "Let me show you what the Joker did to me…"

*

"Oracle can you take over here?"

"something wrong?" Marie forced herself to stay calm. "Probably nothing. Just Vic and Gar said that Donna was having some trouble, and that Vic was heading over to help. Speedy just called in, they've dealt with it, but there was no sign of the others."

"I'll call Bruce_"

"No!" Marie was too quick. "I don't want to embarrass them if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill." She forced a laugh. "Probably just Gar and Vic were arguing so much that they forgot about the mission."

It's a lie and they both know it.

"Alfred should be back in an hour, you just have to hold the fort until then. Marie out."

She swallows, and steps inside the tower. The lobby is deserted.

"hello?" she calls out softly. "Cyborg? Beast Boy? Robin?" There's no response and she felt her hands reaching for the weapons she'd taken before she left.

As she walked, she could see evidence of a fight. There was a broken plant pot, and the scent of the chemical smoke that the Bat's used still hung in the air.

She swallowed, trying to tell herself that she and Jason were wrong, that Bruce was right and Robin was in no danger.

A flick of something disturbed her, and she spun around, just in time to see a flash of yellow disappearing out the window. She was about to follow it when a soft sort of groan grabbed her attention.

She span around.

"Pico!" she ran over. Tim lay still, body beaten and bruised. Praying rapidly, she felt at the neck and offered a prayer of thanks as the pulse beat strongly beneath it.

"Marie!" Oracle's voice came strongly over the comm. Link. She must have called her without thinking.

"Get an ambulance to my location." She said firmly. "The Tower has been compromised."

*

"How the fuck did he get in?" Cyborg asked, as they stood waiting outside the hospital doors. "I thought Security runs a DNA check."

"It does." Marie muttered. Fighting the desire to pace, she trying not to look at the doors. Jason was arguing with Bruce on the phone.

"Then how…?" Donna asked, looking confused.

"Renegade is Dick Grayson."

A volley of yells and protests broke out from the Titans', Causing Jason to send a bat glare at the phone.  
Marie held up her hands, for quiet.

"We've only known for two weeks. The Titans and Little League had been through a lot, and his attention seemed to be focused on us and Gotham, we decided not to tell you guys. I'm not denying we were stupid, and it's not that we don't trust you. It's…" she sighed and shook her head. "it's family. I don't know how to explain it any more than that."

There was silence for a moment, before Cassie spoke up.

"I kinda get it." She said softly. "If it was Donna, or Wonder Woman…I think I'd feel the same."

"Doesn't make it right." Marie said, sighing, as the other Titans voiced their understanding. "We're in charge of you guys. We're supposed to set a good example."

Connor, Red Arrow as he usually went under, shrugged. "You're bats." He said firmly. "Secrets from your team come with the territory."

Jason looked up from the phone.

"I'm not Batman." He said, firmly, before turning his attention back to Bruce.

"I don't give a dam about the Coffin, Bruce. Grayson attacked my team." A pause. "Yeah. Well if you can't handle it. I will"


End file.
